Bicycling is a major industry in the United States and throughout the world. In the United States alone, the number of people who have been cycling within the last 12 months amounted to 47.16 million. The U.S. bicycle industry is a 6.1 billion industry annually. Each year about 2 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. In a majority of bicyclist deaths, the most serious injuries are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce head injury risk by 85 percent.
However, conventional bike helmets do not provide the bicyclist with protection from the sun's rays, precipitation, or other environmental hazards. As a result, the bicyclist may have a difficult time seeing while riding his or her bike due to the brightness of the sun. Further, while it is raining, the bicyclist may have difficulty seeing due to rain hitting the bicyclist's eyes and face.
While some people choose to wear a baseball hat underneath a helmet, this arrangement can be awkward and the brim of the hat may not be able to be positioned in the desired manner. Some existing prior art has attempted to solve this problem. However, the existing prior art has several disadvantages.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,780 discloses a safety helmet with a shield. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,780 fails to address an adequate means of dealing with glare and does not provide a brim. U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,909 discloses a sun visor for a safety helmet. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,909 must be completely removed if it is not sunny and therefore is not time efficient and cumbersome.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,830 provides a hat that discloses a telescoping brim. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,830 fails to disclose a means for retracting the brim completely without having to remove the brim. As a result, there exists a need for improvements over the prior art and more particularly for a more efficient way of allowing providing a safety helmet with a brim.